but it is funny as hell to me …

JENNI GIRTMAN / AJC

The AJC staff are doing some polls for their “Ultimate Guide” on Atlanta. Today there was one asking “What do you like best about living here?” with selections “Pro-sports teams, the weather, job opportunities, diversity, arts and culture, nice neighborhoods” (there is no slot for your own alternative entry).

I put down nice neighborhoods. I love the pro-sports teams here, especially the Braves, but, let’s be honest, everywhere has pro-sports nowadays. The weather is nice, but the lack of a sufficient winter actually bugs me. I’m a graduate student, so job opportunities is an uninteresting category to me right now. The diversity is nice, I suppose, but other cities have more and, frankly, I’ve just never really noticed the relative diversity of different places. Finally, though I’m a member of the High and the Botanical Gardens and the ASO, etc., the arts and culture here leave a little bit to be desired. There’s a good reason for it, I know, but still…

But what really makes Atlanta special, in my mind, is the nice intown neighborhoods. Va-Hi, Midtown, Buckhead, Morningside, Vinings, Brookhaven, etc. Each has its own distinct character and attitude. They are nice, enclosed, and help create a stronger sense of community.

By “it” I mean “all sorts of Georgia driver’s license info ending up in the wrong hands.” By “the wrong hands” I mean “a Georgia Technology Authority computer programmer, if the allegations are true.”

The state’s response, in a nutshell: Oops! Everybody go check their credit report.

So we’re getting the IKEA soon, right? Well, apparently, it’s going to be good for our relationships.

The book, published later this month, attributes much of the store’s success to the fact that its self-assembly furniture allows men to reclaim their hunter-gatherer roots, and so keep their relationships healthy – by demonstrating to their wives and children that they are capable of masculine tasks.

Despite my love for IKEA, I’m not sure I buy into this whole “IKEA = manly” thing. Because the pleasure of IKEA is the ease of putting the furniture together. There are no nails to be hammered, no holes to be drilled, no caulk or adhesive to be applied. Just a simple allen wrench. In fact, IKEA furniture may be among the least manly furniture to put together. But, you know, whatever works for you…

If I were a betting man, I would’ve lost money on this one.

Here I am thinking that the Rumsfield Hammer was only swinging toward our local naval air station, but it turns out that Rummy’s rumy eyes were gazing southward as well. Marietta’s Naval Air Station, Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem are all on today’s to-be-closed list. Fort Benning was spared, but this is quite a hit for the metro area.

From Landmark Midtown Art Cinema:

This weekend we open the fascinating documentary “Lipstick and Dynamite:
The First Ladies of Wrestling,” directed by Atlantan Ruth Leitman. Please join us on the evening of Friday, May 13th at 7:35 p.m. for a Q and A with Leitman and wrestlers Penny Banner and Ella Waldek from the film. Leitman and the film’s producers will also be doing a Q and A on Saturday, May 14th at 7:35 p.m.

And that’s what you have to love about the Midtown Art Cinema. Yes, they show big movies like Kingdom of Heaven and H2G2, but they also have directors and producers in to talk about the other films that they show. Films that Atlanta might not get to see if it weren’t for them. Tara Cinema is also very good at that.

(Full disclosure – Lipstick & Dynamite is currently one of our blogads sponsors)

The rest of the Landmark dispatch is claiming of Episode III that “the George Lucas magic is
back here! This will be one of the biggest hits of all time.” I’m skeptical, having heard that about I and II, but I remain ever hopeful that Lucas will stop destroying his enterprise.

Dear Atlanta Metroblog Readers,

How are you? How are you feeling? Are you looking forward to your free Frosty, or are you a Zesto’s loyalist? Are you sad that Kudzu Books on Peachtree Industrial is going out of business? Are you upset because now you can’t smoke anywhere? Are you stalking Daniel at Octane? Is Daniel stalking you at Octane?

I ask, because y’all fascinate me. I can understand my fellow MARTA-obsessives well enough, but remain baffled as to why we have 30 comments on my Jennifer Wilbanks post, all of which — no, seriously, all of which — came after the woman in question was found safe and sound, if obviously a tad on the selfish side. Is that case really that important to you? Is this the best place you’ve found to talk about it? Or are you just going around and leaving “Jennifer should burn in hell” (no, really, that’s there) comments on every blog you find by Googling +jennifer +wilbanks or +runaway +bride +duluth?

If the last is true, then you really need to find some new activities. Like finding a place to watch Eurovision and drink with me next week. (The Irish traditionally do well at Eurovision — you think FadÛ would broadcast it? Limerick Junction? Meehan’s? Maybe a German place like that one near Satellite Boulevard?)

I strongly suspect that you, or at least some of you, are crazier than I am. Which is a feat. But you are free to hang out and go crazy over other stuff anyway. Should someone burn in hell for making that poor karate store on Peachtree collapse? Fire away!

Love,
Jessica

PS — I will not censor your comments so long as they are not obvious comment spam. I will, however, reserve the right to call you out as a racist scumbucket after allowing your racist comment to appear. Everyone wave hi to Amber! Oh, by the way, Amber, I looked up your IP address (68.220.1.127) and mentioned your comment to BellSouth. Thanks for playing! Come again any time!

PPS — Go Latvia!

Like any good cheese, the annual Eurovision song contest is meant to be enjoyed in good company, with much alcohol. So is there any bar/club/local gathering point hosting a live broadcast on the 21st? Atlanta is seven hours ahead of host city Kyiv, so the final that starts at 10 pm there will begin at 3 here — not a bad time to start Europartying.

But I’d even take a tape-delayed broadcast. Just don’t force me to resort to a broadband stream, good people. The sheer wonder that is Eurovision is too big for a computer monitor.

Dear Atlanta.

I hope this is real because I love ‘em.

http://www.wendys.com/w-1-0.shtml

Next school year, I’m going to be spending about one day a week of my time working at Miller Grove High School in Lithonia. So I’m paying extra attention to the fascinating news about Lithonia shutting down because it can’t pay it’s insurance premium. Sure enough, when I was out there yesterday there were Dekalb County patrol cars instead of Lithonia ones. I was curious about how ‘bad’ this actually was (and, I know, it won’t have any effect on MGHS because the school is in the county system). This Q&A on the situation by the AJC is enlightening.